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• Researcher Kelly-Ann Bowles who specialises in bra design will work from a Victorian MP’s office as part of a program linking scientists and politicians.

• Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne analysed the DNA of 64 Australians who died from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) and found a sizeable number had a heart gene fault that caused an irregular heartbeat.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 11th of April 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

Australian scientists have discovered a possible genetic link between sudden deaths caused by epilepsy and heart problems.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne analysed the DNA of 64 Australians who died from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) and found a sizeable number had a heart gene fault that caused an irregular heartbeat.

Richard Bagnall, the Centenary Institute’s senior research officer who led the study, said the preliminary finding was a crucial first step in understanding SUDEP and how it could be prevented.

Dr Bagnall said his team of five spent three years analysing DNA samples.

“These people didn’t know that they had a heart problem, so in our future studies we’d like to monitor patients with epilepsy and then if they do [die from] SUDEP we can retrospectively look back and see if they really did have any heart problems,” he said.

Dr Bagnall said understanding the genetic basis of SUDEP might inform the future diagnosis of at-risk family members and provide opportunities for prevention.

“These gene faults are inherited and so there’s a 50 per cent chance that a family member will also inherit the gene fault, so it’s important that they are screened,” Dr Bagnall said.

Until now the cause of sudden unexpected death of epilepsy patients was unknown.

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